Requiem of Tuesday

05Mar

“Wake up!” Mom called. I lifted my head from the bed and promptly let it fall back down. Fuck. “I need you to get up and help with Charles.” Again, I lifted my head, and it fell back down. It felt like there was a heavy weight on top, and my pillow felt too nice. My body was leaden.

This was what happened the morning after every Dungeons and Dragon’s session. I stayed up too late, forgot I needed to wake up at the shitty ass-crack of morning, and got little sleep.

In a daze, I oozed forward to fumble about as I attempted to slap the button on my alarm clock. Its buzzing was like an electric toothbrush raping my ear.

Velvet decided to step in. She mewled at me, and I automatically petted the eager little creature. Her fur was soft, and I cracked my eyes open as she moved out of my reach. She was staring up at my wind chimes that were attached to the vent. I lifted myself enough to free an arm and yank the cat away with a grunt of displeasure. She dashed off, only to return after another buzz of the clock.

This time, she tried a different approach. She simply scraped her claws lightly down my bare arm. I jumped and stared at her stupidly. The feline continued to harass me with attention-begging and chime-threatening, until I finally felt awake enough to sit.

Velvet dashed away before I could force cuddles on her, smart little bitch that she was. I slid from my high bed onto the ‘climb-in chair’ by my desk and stared at my pants for a few moments. Icy air was already assaulting my bare legs. I stripped and paused as I noticed an irritated scab on the back of my calf. Again, it scabbed over with lint that stuck out of it. Instead of simply taking a wet rag and washing it, I ripped the scab off. After I pulled my pants on, I rolled up the leg to avoid lint, and pulled on a fresh shirt.

I didn’t smell too terrible to babysit, I thought.

For a few moments, I simply stood there. Finally, my brain started to work again, and I shoved my feet into my slippers. They were still cold with yesterday’s sweat, but quickly warmed. Several moments more, I stared ahead. My alarm went off again, and I climbed onto the chair to turn it off. My brain felt like it was stuffed with marshmallows.

I looked down at my laptop. The lights were too bright. I began to unhook it, starting with the power cord, then the mouse. Each cord, I tucked into my hand. I shoved the mouse pad between screen and keyboard and let it close. My eyes hurt less already. I lifted the laptop onto my shoulder and grabbed the fan beneath it. Time to emerge from my cave.

The walk upstairs was uneventful, save Velvet’s mewling. When I arrived at the top, my usual spot was taken up by Charles’ things. I moved them and quickly set up. No sign of Mom. Once all was prepared, I stood by the dining room table and tried to decide what I could do to help Mom prepare for work.

I could think of nothing, so wandered into the kitchen. Mom was in there, so I greeted her. The usual bustle began, and I helped mom make a check list of what needed to be done, but otherwise the entire rush felt like a blur.

Finally, I finished all I could and sat at my laptop. I checked the forum I was trying to be active on. I made two posts. Nobody else seemed to be online. Absently, I reflected yet again on Lunae Saga. That was the site on which I really wanted to play, but it had been over twenty-four hours since it went down.

It was with regret that I closed the tab after I checked the site’s facebook again. No useful information.

I needed to write. I pulled up WordPress and stared at the screen. Eventually, Mom left. I turned my music on.

Mom came back to grab something she forgot, and not long after, Charles woke up and wanted a bath. I obliged after I gave him his medicine.

I stared at my cat as she sat on top of the living room television and scratched herself. She was oh, so ladylike. Lick, lick, lick.

For now, the morning was calm, but the child in the bath tub would not stay there forever. I stared at Velvet as I tried to decide what to write. Finally, the idea came to me, and the words began to flow freely, even if they were stilted and jarring initially.

Charles finished after I wrote several paragraphs, and my day began. I helped him dress and gave him breakfast. He was in a very good mood. Once he was dressed, I tried to write more, but he decided he wanted to change his pants, so I put the other pants back on him and explained that he didn’t actually poop in them.

I continued my writing and turned on kid shows for Charles. I tried to ignore Little Einsteins and the other shows, but as always, the moving pictures and happy voices drew my gaze, and quite a few times, my brain turned off for a few minutes, until a commercial saved me and I continued to write. Absently, I wondered if writing about my struggle to write was becoming a bad habit. Was I cheapening my challenge?

Despite my worries, I continued. I was almost done with my daily writing, and I could always write more if I made a new story sometime during the day.

My feet felt sweaty, but I ignored them. A show about trains came on, and because it was something I had never seen before, it had my full attention. It was kind of stupid, and reminded me of a copyright avoidance knockoff of Thomas.

Finally, it ended and I changed the channel. My favorite kid show was going to come on now. I smirked as I recalled the origin story that I made up for Bo on the Go. I liked writing those two stories.

As the show reached its halfway point, at mention of a “trashcan door”, I finished and began to fill in tags.

Mood, formerly known as Face, is a young writer from Michigan who is twenty-five years old. She specializes in fantasy and loves creating new worlds. Mood believes she is a talented creator, but knows she still has a lot of skills she needs to improve.

This blog is her practice area. She writes publicly in hopes that having readers will lessen her chances of skipping a day.